Abstract

In this study, first of all 5 core criteria and 26 sub-criteria to select protected patches in Iran's natural ecosystems were derived. During the next step to elect appropriate criteria and sub-criteria to chose protected patches in Hyrcanian forest areas, these criteria being organized in a Delphi Questionnaire were presented to protection experts and finally the results extracted from Criteria-importance diagram based on two parameters of importance percentage and importance rank of under study criteria showed that there are 5 core criteria including habitat, species, social aspects, economical aspects, and managerial aspects and 18 sub-criteria including uniqueness of habitat, vulnerability of habitat, representativeness of habitat, importance of habitat, landscape, water resources, species diversity, species damage, species population, species protection-degree, compatibility, historical and cultural importance, importance in national economy, dependence for local economy, legal support, threat factors, research and monitoring and training respecting importance to be used to elect protected patches in Caspian forest ecosystems in Iran.

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